Johnny Cash Statue Coming to U.S. Capitol

The Man in Black will soon be the Man in Marble. Later this year, a statue of country icon Johnny Cash will become the first professional musician to take its place in Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol. The tribute to Cash will be unveiled during a ceremony in the Capitol’s Emancipation Hall on Sept. 24.

Cash will take his place in the National Statuary Hall Collection, where each U.S. state receives two statues to commemorate important figures from its history. Cash, born in Dyess, AR, will be enshrined alongside civil rights activist Daisy Bates, whose statue was put in place in May; in 2019, Arkansas’ state legislature passed a bill to replace existing statues of Sen. James P. Clark and lawyer Uriah Rose with Cash and Bates.

The news about the eight-foot tall bronze statue of a stern-looking Cash holding a Bible and a guitar designed by artist Kevin Kresse was announced on Thursday (August 1) by House speaker Mike Johnson and Democratic House Minority leader Hakeem Jeffries. In December 2022, Kresse posted an image of the statue, writing, “Although I finished this 8ft. tall sculpture of Johnny Cash 2-3 months ago, I couldn’t take it to the foundry until we received approval from Washington D.C. for the entire packet. (Sculpture, Pedestal, Inscriptions, Engineering, etc.). Yesterday we received ‘official’ approval from D.C. Although I don’t know when the unveiling will be, I do know that statues of Daisy Bates and Johnny Cash will be the new representatives of Arkansas in the US Capitol, starting in 2023. I couldn’t be happier with these choices for Arkansas. I’m also extremely proud to be a native son of Arkansas, getting this opportunity to sculpt an Arkansas icon for the nation’s Capitol.”

Cash’s enshrinement will place him in good company alongside such historic figures as Ethan Allen, Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune (educator, civil rights activist and co-founder of the United Negro College Fund), Pulitzer Prize winner author Willa Cather, Amelia Earhart, inventor Thomas Alva Edison, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Andrew Jackson, Hellen Keller, astronaut John Swigert, Jr., George Washington and many others.

With his signature rumbling baritone voice and songs of faith, murder, longing and love, Cash was a beloved country outlaw best known for such iconic tracks as “I Walk the Line,” “Ring of Fire,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Man in Black” and “Daddy Sang Bass,” and many others.

According to NBC News, Johnson, Jeffries, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Cash’s family are expected to attend the unveiling. Cash died in 2002 at age 71 due to respiratory failure tied to complications from diabetes.

See the announcement and a picture of the statue below.

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